Resumen

MOLINA-BOLIVAR, Geomar  y  JIMENEZ-PITRE, Iris. ANALYSIS OF CONTAMINATION BY THERMOTOLERANT COLIFORM BACTERIA IN THE ESTUARY OF THE RANCHERIA RIVER, LA GUAJIRA (COLOMBIA). Bol. Cient. Mus. Hist. Nat. Univ. Caldas [online]. 2017, vol.21, n.2, pp.41-50. ISSN 0123-3068.  https://doi.org/10.17151/bccm.2017.21.2.3.

The estuary of the Rancheria River is a water source of great importance for the municipality of Riohacha. Formed by different bodies of water, constitutes a dynamic and complex system that supplies both, urban centers and rural areas. One of the the most commonly used criteria for determining the quality of water is the measurement of Thermotolerant Coliforms (TC). With the objective of studying the spatiotemporal distribution of these elements, water samples were collected in five different areas and the content of TtC was analyzed using the multiple-tube technique (MPN/100 ml). Samplings were taken every fifteen days between September 2014 and August 2015, in which no statistically significant differences were found in the content of TtC between the sites where samples were taken, with the exception of EM (equality of variance; p = 0.018); but significant differences were found between the periods of rain and drought (ρ = 0.027; p = 0.029) and in the fourth quarter in VF (ρ = 0.000). The highest records are related to DB and CG, as well as in the areas closer to either urban centers or to agricultural exploitation centers.

Palabras clave : water quality; fecal coliforms; Ranchería River; spatial distribution.

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